The Quad Summit refers to the meeting of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, involving the United States, Japan, India, and Australia. On 20 May 2023, the Quad Summit was hosted by the Prime Minister of Australia, Anthony Albanese, and attended by the Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of Japan, Fumio Kishida, and the President of the United States, Joseph Biden.
Quad Summit 2023 was the fifth summit of the Quad Leaders and the third in-person meeting. The Quad aims to promote a free and open Indo-Pacific region. The summit serves as a platform for high-level discussions on regional security, economic cooperation, and shared values. It reflects a collaborative effort among democratic nations to address common challenges, including maritime security, infrastructure development, and response to global crises. The Quad Summit plays a significant role in shaping regional dynamics and fostering strategic partnerships among its member countries. In this article, we will look into the theme and outcomes of the Quad Summit 2023 in detail.
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Quad Summit Countries and Full Form of QUAD
The full form of Quad is Quadrilateral Security Dialogue. It is a diplomatic alliance between the United States, Australia, India, and Japan that aims to promote an inclusive, resilient, open, and wealthy Indo-Pacific region. It supports our bilateral, regional, and multilateral collaboration, particularly with the countries in Southeast Asia and the Pacific region. Quad united as a result of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami to plan the region’s response and aid to the affected nations. Officials from the Quad met for the first time during the ASEAN Summit of the Regional Forum held in May 2007 in the Philippines.
Theme of the Quad Summit 2023
The theme of the summit released as the Joint Statement by the Leaders was “Quad Leaders Vision Statement: Enduring Partners for the Indo-Pacific.”. The Quad leaders took an oath in the statement to be a “force for good” and to work together to create solutions that would benefit the entire area. The leaders reaffirmed their common democratic ideals and strategic goals during a productive discussion about developments in the Indo-Pacific region. The importance of maintaining the ideas of sovereignty, territorial integrity, and conflict resolution was stressed.
Outcomes of the Quad Summit 2023
Six working groups at the leader level carry out the Quad’s practical work to address the following:
1. Infrastructure
Three significant infrastructure projects were started to offer resources, expertise, and training to enhance current and upcoming infrastructure works.
- Quad Infrastructure Fellowship: The initiative will offer government officials at least 1,800 scholarships, work exchanges, and other executive programs focused on best practices for the planning, execution, and management of high-standard infrastructure projects.
- Quad Collaboration for Cable Resilience and Connectivity: Under-sea cables are an essential part of the communications infrastructure and provide the backbone to the internet’s connectivity. Together, public and private sectors can address infrastructure shortages and collaborate on the future construction projects.
2. Investment
Encouraging investment will support the region’s economic growth at present and in the future.
- Quad Investors Network (QUIN): It was formally introduced as a network of executives and investors from all across the Quad countries that aim to promote co-investment in vital technologies.
- Credit agencies for export MOC: The goal of the Quad governments’ effort to establish a Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC) between their export credit agencies is to build cooperation in the areas of trade promotion, trade related project financing, economic development, and knowledge-sharing for the export of products and services.
3. Emerging and Critical Technologies
The Quad is dedicated for driving innovation in the future and that the advantages of new and emerging technologies are distributed throughout the region as technology advances.
- Commercial Open RAN (Radio Access Network) Deployment in Palau: The Quad will collaborate with the Palauan government and the Palau National Communications Corporation (PNCC) to develop, execute, and oversee the deployment of Open RAN features.
- Open RAN Security Report: The Quad provides a comprehensive report that outlines the cyber-security issues related to utilizing Open RAN as a method for creating network design.
- Advancing Innovation to Empower Next-gen Agriculture (AI-ENGAGE): Quad science agencies are working to find cooperative funding prospects to develop cooperative research amongst the Quad partners about how to utilize the most recent scientific and technological advancements to assist farmers.
- Quad Technology Business and Investment Forum: This meeting laid the groundwork for improved public-private cooperation on important and emerging technologies among the governments, businesses, investors, academic institutions, and civil societies.
4. Maritime
The Quad has made considerable progress in raising awareness of the maritime area.
- Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness (IPMDA): It aims to provide partners in the region with state-of-the-art satellite-based radio-frequency (RF) data, to improve their knowledge in maritime domain and enabling them to monitor their seas more effectively.
5. Education
The Quad is dedicated to develop future STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) innovators to build a better future in Education sector.
- Quad STEM Fellowship: It was declared in 2021. The Quad Fellowships provide annual funding for 100 students from the United States, Australia, India, and Japan to pursue graduate studies in STEM subjects.
- It is expected that Quad Fellowship will grow to increase professional and educational possibilities in Australia, India, and Japan.
6. Climate and Clean Energy
The Quad seeks to assist nations in reducing the consequences of climate change and improving their climate resilience.
- Clean Energy Supply Chain Principles and Diversification Program: This program will concentrate on the supply chains for electric car battery technologies, solar photo-voltaics (PV), and hydrogen electrolysers.
- Climate Information Services Initiative (CIS): It is dedicated to develop the Indo-Pacific region’s climate data capabilities, cooperation, and information-sharing systems.
- Quad Indo-Pacific Oceans Research Alliance (QIPORA): It aims to strengthen the resilience of Indo-Pacific nations by expanding ocean research, starting collaboration among experts, and building knowledge and technology pipelines.
7. Health
As the world continues to recover from COVID-19, the Quad acknowledges the importance of strengthening health security and the Indo-Pacific region’s capacity to manage future health emergencies.
- Quad Health Security Partnership: It was inaugurated at the 2023 Quad Leaders’ Summit. The initial initiatives will consist of a set of specific measures to improve disease prevention, identification, and response to outbreaks with epidemiological potential.
8. Technology norms
The Quad Leaders are dedicated to create common values and guidelines for the good of all citizens as the following norms were adopted.
- Joint Principles on Emerging and Critical Technology Standards
- The Q-ISCN, or Quad International Standards Cooperation Network
9. Cyber
From software to critical infrastructure to cyber security, the Quad is dedicated to developing a safe and secure cyber ecosystem.
- Cyber Challenge: This year’s inaugural event aimed to raise cyber awareness and equip participants throughout the Indo-Pacific region to stay safe online.
- The Critical Infrastructure Principles: These are intended to strengthen the Indo-Pacific region’s defenses against cyber threats.
- Software Security Principles: These mutually agreed guidelines make sure that the government uses its purchasing power to promote the creation of safer and more secure software.
10. Space
Quad countries are collaborating more on commercial and civil initiatives, such as exchanging better information on space awareness and climate change.
- Extreme Precipitation Events: To encourage the use of space-based instruments and Earth observation data to track and respond to climate impacts. These resources can also help Indo-Pacific spacefaring nations access and use them.
- Commercial Space Collaboration: Quad Partners is dedicated to enhancing collaboration on commercial space initiatives and plans to organize a commercial space business summit in 2023.
- Space Situational Awareness: The Quad will collaborate to make use of space awareness and space traffic coordination capabilities for the sustainability of the outer space environment and space flight safety.
11. Anti-terrorism
The Quad Leaders have condemned the terrorist acts that took place in Mumbai on November 26 and Pathankot. As per the guidelines of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), they have stressed on the importance of maintaining global norms for anti-money laundering and stopping the financing of terrorism by states.
Conclusion
The four Quad members have been active in reframing the “Asia-Pacific” as the “Indo-Pacific” on purpose in order to strengthen trans-regional links between the Pacific and Indian Ocean regions and to better address the rise of China, the Middle East, and Africa. In recent years, ASEAN, the United States, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the Quad countries have also adopted the term “Indo-Pacific” into their political and strategic discourse, primarily in reference to China.
MCQs on Quad Summit
1. Which country hosted Quad Summit 2023?
Quad Summit 2023 was held in Hiroshima, hosted by Prime Minister of Australia, Anthony Albanese.
2. Which country is the Quad Summit 2024 held in?
India’s Prime Minister , Shri Narendra Modi has invited Quad leaders to India for the next Quad Summit in 2024.
3. What is the Quad Leaders Summit 2023?
Quad leaders summit is the fifth summit by leaders of Quad countries held on 20th May, 2023.
4. Where is the Headquarter of Quad?
Quad has no permanent headquarters. The summits are held on invitation by countries on mutual agreement.
5. What are the Quad Countries?
The Quad countries are India, the United States of America, Japan, and Australia.
6. Why did Quad Summit cancel?
Due to debt ceiling negotiations in Washington, US President Joe Biden withdrew from the Quad countries meeting that was set to take place in Sydney.
7. What is the theme of the Quad summit 2023?
The Joint Statement at the Quad summit 2023 was “Quad Leaders Vision Statement: Enduring Partners for the Indo-Pacific.”
8. What is Quad full form?
The full form of Quad is Quadrilateral Security Dialogue.